AHTC asks independent panel about legal fees incurred in lawsuit

The Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) has asked its independent panel for a detailed account of the legal fees incurred in the lawsuit that the panel initiated against Workers’ Party leaders and town councillors in 2017.

- Tham Yuen-C

In a statement on July 26, AHTC said the panel acts independently of its MPs, town councillors and management, “including taking decisions to initiate and pursue litigation, engage in mediation, and consent to the terms of the settlement”.

AHTC MPs, town councillors and management were not consulted on any of these actions from the outset, the town council added.

Its statement comes two days after WP secretary-general Pritam Singh, party chairman Sylvia Lim, former party chief Low Thia Khiang and town councillors Kenneth Foo and Chua Zhi Hon announced in a joint statement that they had settled a lawsuit brought against them by AHTC and Sengkang Town Council (STC).

AHTC – through the independent panel – had taken the five WP leaders and town councillors to court in 2017 over $33.7 million in improper payments made by the town council to its one-time managing agent FM Solutions & Services (FMSS). The town council had also sued FMSS.

The case has wound its way through the courts since then, with the Court of Appeal finding in a November 2022 judgment that the WP leaders and town councillors do not owe AHTC fiduciary duties and had acted in good faith in hiring FMSS.

But the apex court also found that the town councillors were negligent in allowing conflicts of interest to persist at AHTC, and were thus liable for some of the damages.